Good whistle discipline is vital to good officiating

Referee Scott Novak and umpire Ramon George faced a difficult and potentially dangerous play in Week 14: a fumble scramble turned into a surprising touchdown run for the Miami Dolphins. https://streamable.com/gshb65 There a few mechanics things to unpack here. See leather! When there's a fumble and the ball disappears under a pile of several

Candidates for white hat in 2019

The coveted white hat worn by the referee There are two referee openings for the 2019 season after Walt Coleman and Pete Morelli retired. So far, they are the only two referees we know who have retired. There are very few chances for the NFL to test officials for future referee openings.

NFL announces 2014 officials

This post has been updated to reflect changes in the 2014 officiating staff after the initial announcement. The NFL has announced its 2014 roster of officials (full list below after the jump).  The roster features 12 new hires.  Earlier we reported that 11 officials were not going to return to the

NFL hires five more officials

Four new hires have collegiate referee experience Football Zebras has learned the names of five more college officials hired by the NFL, and that there will be a total of eleven new officials in 2014. Alex Kemp, Brad Allen, Scott Novak, Bryan Neale and Brad Freeman have been hired by the NFL according

NFL winds down advanced training program as college season opens

As Labor Day weekend approaches, the developmental officials that comprised the NFL's "taxi squad" are headed back to their college conferences for the start of the college football season. It is officially known as the advanced training program, the NFL initiative that brought 21 officials from the major college conferences to